For me, it was uplifting, in this time of doom and gloom, to see Tiger and his son playing golf at the PNC father/child event, as well as others like 86 year old Gary Player, 82 year old Lee Trevino, ageless Tom Watson, Henrik Stenson and his 11 year old son, and the eventual winners […]
mental game
A Game for all Seasons…almost
Now I’m not suggesting you play golf as I did at 17 in Philly with temperatures hovering at 32 degrees, the ground frozen solid with patches of snow and ice on and around the creeks and ponds, and me wearing three sweatshirts, wool cap pulled down over my ears, and longjohns with heavy pants, with […]
A Recently Discovered Secret to Solid Contact
The other day I attended a LPGA event south of Portland and I paused to watch one of the participants warming up at the range. Actually I was about to leave when her swing and its results caught my eye and my ear. The solid sound her irons made was captivating. I stopped and watched […]
What we can learn from Patrick Cantley
Patrick “Iceman” Cantley may well be our modern Ben Hogan, who was also known as the “Iceman.” In the last two tournaments of 2021, Cantley took down two of the best in today’s game, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm. Like David defeating Goliath, like the tortoise besting the hare, like the Trojan Horse deceiving and […]
The Element of Distraction and How to Overcome It
I had had a good practice session at the range the day before my round, and had high expectations for a major scoring accomplishment. But right from my first wayward tee shot, I could tell something was amiss, and, sure enough, I shot a rather miserable 47 front nine, pocked by bogeys and doubles and […]
Pace: Find your Model
When I was a kid, one of the pros I admired was Gene Littler who won the U.S. Amateur, scored 29 victories on the PGA Tour, including the U.S. Open in 1961. Gene the Machine, they used to call him, for his smooth, easy, repeating swing. For a time, he was my model for how […]
Learning from Fabulous Phil Mickelson
Taking over five hours, with time between shots and holes, golf requires mental focus, perhaps more than any other sport. From three-foot putts to irons over water to drives down tight fairways, you need to stay focused to insure all your relevant body parts are in sync with your brain’s neurons; for anything out of […]
The Essence of a Good Lesson
As with any instruction, there are lessons which are effective and lessons which are not. I might be a concert pianist today if I stuck with lessons when I was six, but just didn’t connect with the teacher and his methods. On the other hand, my first golf instructor, though far from a top 100, […]
Swing Speed: The Good, the Bad, and the Hyperbole
From the talking heads on TV to the touring pros themselves, swing speed is all the rage. Bryson DeChambeau is the current focus of the discussion, although he’s just doing his thing in order to win more tournaments. I don’t think too many others will take the time to put on 40 pounds of muscle […]